Teachers are loyal to their craft and pupils
Jessica Galloway from Raumati Beach School shares her support for teachers and writes about working alongside them.
Every day for the past six months I have worked alongside teachers at a local primary school.
I came to work here knowing nothing of teachers’ salaries. I had only a Third World reference and as a grateful new immigrant, I was confident and excited at the prospect of earning a First World salary. Throw in a woman prime minister? Heck yes! I assumed competent salaries for those building the very foundations for our future would be a given.
My first sign came literally as a sign.
A newspaper cutout carefully tacked up in a hallway detailing the struggle of a former teacher who had quit her passion to join another profession in order to pay her bills. I found this slightly dramatic at first, but it doesn’t take long to see the truth. Teachers are working harder than ever.
Many are leaving permanent posts in favour of relieving, where they will earn more and in essence do less. Many teachers are taking on second jobs and there has been a 40 per cent decline in students choosing to study education. A teacher shortage is imminent . . . a shortage we cannot afford to have.
What has surprised me the most is that almost every single teacher I have encountered at this school has not wavered in dedication to their students.
You see, teachers are loyal to their craft and their charges. Teachers do not clock watch. Teachers continue work long after the 3pm bell rings.
They do not think of overtime in monetary value like the rest of us. One would think now more than ever, in a time where it would make more financial sense to become a household cleaner than to educate our youth, that those actively seeking to study education, or continue on in the field, would be a little lackluster, at least demotivated.
While that might be true, there is no trace of it brought to the classrooms here.
When I heard that a strike was on the cards, I began to fret. In my home country an impending strike in the public sector almost certainly meant months without returning to work, angry protests, some sort of arson, vandalism and perhaps even a little animal sacrifice for good measure.
A one-day scheduled strike somehow seemed not as disastrous.
As I arrive in the classroom for my special needs role and hear parents discussing the inconvenience of the impending strike, I glance over to the mesmerising woman I work with, who leads a class of 27 students, 27 of whom absolutely adore her, laugh with her every single day, overcome individual struggles with her subtle encouragement every single day, feel safe and secure and excited to learn every single day. I feel, for the first time since arriving in this wonderful country, just a little bit despondent and my eyes flick up at the clock on the wall because I know at 2.30pm I will need to rush across town to start my afternoon job. #itstime #wewillmissthemwhenthey aregone